Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!husc6!spdcc!ima!johnl
From: johnl@ima.ima.isc.com (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Quicken?  Anybody?x
Summary: Checkfree is quite limited
Keywords: Electronic banking
Message-ID: <3120@ima.ima.isc.com>
Date: 4 Jan 89 17:19:33 GMT
References: <8090008@hpsemc.HP.COM> <1346@cod.NOSC.MIL>
Reply-To: johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine)
Organization: Segue Software, Inc.
Lines: 27

In article <1346@cod.NOSC.MIL> ckaiser@cod.nosc.mil.UUCP (Cliff Kaiser) writes:
>But before you buy it, check out CheckFree. I just got the software from
>a local BBS. ...

I took a look at the Checkfree stuff from my local BBS.  The idea is decent,
you upload a list of checks to send and they send them.  On the other hand,
their software is very limited.  For example, the only identification you
can put on a check is a short character string.  If you want to pay two bills
with one check, tough.  (Not an exotic example -- my electric and gas bills
are paid together, as are the two bills that the phone company insists on
sending for my two phone lines.)  Also, it's not clear what sort of recourse
you have.  What happens if they fail to make a payment?  Can you get copies
of the cancelled non-checks, or whatever they are?  Also, the price seemed
rather high, even taking into account the money you don't spend on stamps.

CheckFree's main line of business is the opposite of what this package does.
For example, Compuserve has a bunch of subscribers that allow CheckFree to
write a check to Compuserve for each month's billing.  The risk is considerably
less there, because Compuserve has explicitly agreed to be paid by CheckFree.

So anyway, it's a neat idea but I'd be careful.  If anybody has actual
experience letting CheckFree pay their bills, I'd be interested in hearing
about it.
-- 
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
{ bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something
You're never too old to have a happy childhood.